Stevens specializes in fine-art pet portraits and can capture an equally wonderful image of your precious pooch or kitty this week when he stages his second MaxFund Photo Fundraiser.

Sessions for pets and their owners will be offered Friday through Sunday at Mark Stevens Photography, 389 S. Broadway. The cost ranges from $75 to $200 — although additional donations are welcome — and Stevens is giving 100 percent of everything he receives to MaxFund, a no-kill shelter and adoption center established in 1988 by Nanci and Bill Suro.

Space is limited and reservations are required. They can be made by calling 303-562-5536. Children, cats and other pets are also welcome.

“Last year we fell just short of our $10,000 goal,” Stevens said. “I hope that we can make a lot of smiles with our photography and surpass $10,000 this year.”

An idea for the animal lover who has everything: These recycled newspaper pets from the design-driven cataloge Olive & Cocoa may look cute and cuddly enough to be a tot’s favorite stuffed friend, but in fact “Maggie & Oatmeal,” the Labrador and Cavachon respectively, feature very grown-up craftsmanship. They are little collectible works of art that stand just over a foot tall and arrive already wrapped. “A unique gift for a special person,” one fan of the pair wrote in an online review. $198 each at oliveandcocoa.com.

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When a PediPaws ($19.99) showed up in the features department for a product review a few weeks ago, I couldn’t wait to try it out on my dogs. You may have seen the television advertisement for the nail grinder where the dogs sit quietly while their nails are filed, leaving them trim, rounded and smooth. Turns out, I am too much of a coward to try to trim my own dogs’ nails, as I worried that I would cut into the quick and harm them. So I asked Karen Hildebrandt at my doggie daycare center, Mile High Mutts of Denver, to give it a whirl and tell me what she thought about PediPaws.

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Karen has worked at Mile High Mutts for nearly five years now and regularly trims dogs’ nails with a clipper upon request. She has been trimming my dogs’ nails for three years, so I knew they would be comfortable with her.

Before using PediPaws, Karen tried the device on her own nail to make sure it wouldn’t hurt the dogs. She said the friction of the sandpaper against her pinky nail was extremely hot. The device does have a feature in which it will stop automatically if you apply too much pressure. But Karen said the situation is a Catch-22. To trim a larger dog’s thicker nails, more pressure must be applied, but you run the risk of having the PediPaws stop working or burn the nail in the process, she said.

“I think it would burn the dog’s quick before I could ever get the whole nail done,” she said. But she was willing to give it a try, given the fact that dogs’ nails are tougher than humans’.

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Here Karen uses PediPaws on Raina’s nails. Karen doesn’t think the device would work in a daycare situation because it takes too long. She was able to do a full set of nails for two dogs with the basic clippers in the time it took her to do just one paw with the PediPaws. A dog owner at home with more time on their hands could get the job done eventually.

“Cutting nails is not a pleasant experience for dogs, so it’s best to do it quickly. But you can’t trim the nails quickly or effectively with PediPaws,” she said.

On the flip side, Karen said she thinks PediPaws would be a great follow-up device for smoothing down the nail after they’ve been trimmed with a clipper, which can leave nails very rough and cause scratches and nicks on floors.

She also thinks a pet owner with a dog under 10 pounds would be able to use the PediPaws more easily. The smaller the dog, the smaller the nail. But, in her opinion, the device wouldn’t work for medium- or larger-sized dogs.

“It would take forever to do a Great Dane’s nails, but a Chihuahua owner would do just fine.”

If you are trimming your dog’s nails, Karen suggests to watch your dog’s reaction and let that response be your guide. You can lay your dog down or use your leg to restrain or straddle the dog while trimming its nails. PediPaws instructions do say users will have to acclimate dogs to the device.

“But they are saying you don’t have to restrain the dog to do it, and that’s not true,” Karen said. “I don’t think most dogs will be very relaxed when you try to use PediPaws. The Brittany Spaniel they have in the commercial was panting so hard, you just know that dog had been on a treadmill for the last hour and that was the only reason why it was relaxed. If you exercise your dog first, then it might be relaxed enough to use PediPaws. But I think it takes too much time and effort for what it’s worth.”